Teaching through hands on activities is the best way to encourage the future generation of geoscientists. When given the chance, I pounce on opportunities to work directly with students. I had the privilege of teaming up with Cornell Center for Materials Research to bring hands on activities to Middle School students in Washington D.C.

During my visit, I taught students about the water cycle and how rocks and minerals affect our drinking water, specifically by making it harder or softer. We conducted experiments on how water hardness affected bubbles and seeing the students explore the seemingly ordinary waters was wonderful. It was nice to bring a sliver of geochemistry to their classroom. Being a predominantly African-American area and middle school, its important to have scientists that can connect with students of Washington D.C. It was great to see their astonishment that I, tall-hair and all, was a Dr., a geochemist, and at Cornell. They had great questions for me about my pathway to becoming a scientist but were primarily excited to splash and shake the waters we provided them. I look forward to my return visit in early 2017!